Genotype-Phenotype Mapping

Quantitative Behavioural phenotyping

Our work in computational ethology and phenotypic screening opens opportunities for understanding the connection between genetic variation and phenotypic variation. Good phenotypes are fundamental for classical genetics where mutations in single genes exert strong effects on phenotype as well as quantitative genetics where a large number of loci distributed across the genome combine with each other and with environmental factors to determine phenotype. We use both feature engineering and machine learning to maximise our ability to classify mutants and map phenotypic variation to specific genomic loci.

We are working with C. elegans strains from the CeNDR collection and the Million Mutations Project to perform genome wide association studies for multidimensional behavioural traits. We draw traits from spontaneous locomotion, stimulus-response experiments, or worm-worm interactions.